There doesn’t appear to be a genuine appreciation for any of it. Her parents are well off and they paid a decent amount of money to have their house filled with culturally appropriated items from all over the world. She’s also known for her pool parties because they’re so awesome but on this unusually cold day in LA, where the story begins, she’s out hunting for a game that’ll turn her now-indoor party into something interesting. She’s slender, has straight eyebrows, forest green eyes, and is serious-looking. One of her friends, Michael, described her hair as the color of honey in sunlight. I think it’s supposed to be explained away by them having been friends since they were little kids but Tom’s presented as a dick and Jenny’s just all googly-eyed for him. Rather typical of less secure teenage girls in relationships but still maddening to read. ![]() At one point she even mentions that Tom will always come first above all other friends. Jenny Thornton - The girl with perpetual white knight syndrome who is way too willing to adapt her life to her boyfriend for his ease, and because of this she’s rather infuriating. Like legit watch the beginning of Labyrinth as the camera pans through Sarah’s room and catch all the little tidbits of creatures that are already in her room and then spot them in Jareth’s Labyrinth. Or a Labyrinth world that’s ever-changing and filled with things from the players’ darkness fantasies. But when they’re not there, they’re in the LA area. The Place: Mostly within the Shadow World, a nightmare scape made up of everyone’s darkest fears encapsulated in a frozen wasteland of even more nightmare creatures. ![]() Black turtlenecks and the blue glow of a computer forever etched onto a person’s face. I’m a child of the 90s but cyberpunk is just a hint too old for me so I did have to look it up. Smith has a thing for cyberpunk and mentions it a lot throughout the book, especially in regard to how Julian is described. He’ll do anything to win her as she bargains desperately for her body - and soul. It’s Julian’s game, and Jenny is the prize he’s stalked for years. Suddenly the game is real! They’re in the house of horror, running from The Shadow Man - Julian himself, who forces them to confront their worst nightmares or be lost in a private hell. Do so at your own risk.” Spellbound, they piece together the cardboard Victorian house and decorate the rooms with their darkest nightmares. When she and her friends open the plain white box at her boyfriend Tom’s birthday party, she chills to the warning: “Entering the Shadow World can be deadly. The Blurb: He sold her the Game, and Jenny Thornton walked out mesmerized by Julian, the gorgeous cyber-punk with electric blue eyes and frost-white hair. However, I love the Teen Creeps’ podcast discussions of the books: Teen Creeps and The Hunter.] I’ve since read other things, including The Vampire Diaries back when I recapped season one for a website, but Night World remains my favourite of her works. [Wing: I never read her as a teen, either, though a friend sent me the entire Night World series when I was in my early twenties, and I loved them. ![]() But the impression I do have of her writing, even factoring in book one of The Vampire Diaries, is pretty good. I do have other books of hers on my shelves, including some non-sequential Night World books (all originals, not the re-releases, I avoid those regardless of author, if I’m going to read 90s teen cheese it’s going to be in its original glory). For the most part, this is what I know of LJ Smith despite her grander library of works. Slightly lyrical, much descriptive, and writes pretty relatable, realistic characters (mostly). I stumbled upon The Forbidden Game series completely by accident and I kind of love her style of writing here. I’ve always known who she was thanks mostly to my fellow Lost Boys mailing listers who talked about her work a lot. That kind of drama never interested me and still doesn’t. In fact I never even read The Vampire Diaries until earlier this year and it was only the very first book (the original, not the re-releases). LJ Smith was never part of my reading repertoire when I was younger.
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